PRospective Imaging of CErvical cancer and neoadjuvant treatment (PRICE) study: role of ultrasound to predict partial response in locally advanced cervical cancer patients undergoing chemoradiation and radical surgery

Abstract

Ultrasound and contrast parameters differ between LACC patients with complete response and those with partial response before and after 2 weeks of neoadjuvant treatment. However, neither ultrasound parameters before treatment nor those after 2 weeks of treatment had cut-off values with acceptable sensitivity and specificity for predicting partial pathological response to neoadjuvant therapy. Copyright © 2017 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PRospective Imaging of CErvical cancer and neoadjuvant treatment (PRICE) study: role of ultrasound to assess residual tumor in locally advanced cervical cancer patients undergoing chemoradiation and radical surgery

“…Regarding the contrast-enhanced ultrasound examination, our current data confirmed our previous findings that contrast parameters assessed after 2 weeks of treatment did not differ between patients with partial and those with complete response 15 . Our present results confirm that contrast evaluation of the irradiated cervix is non-specific, as contrast uptake may occur both in residual tumor and in post-treatment normal tissue, giving similar values.…”

“…Furthermore, possibly as a result of the relatively small sample size, color Doppler evaluation of the 45 cases with detectable lesions on ultrasound presented an accuracy of only 66.7%, with negative predictive value of 42.9% and positive predictive value of 71.1%. The observed poor reliability of color Doppler and 3D vascular indices in terms of improving the predictive value of grayscale examination of residual cervical lesion is apparently in contrast with the results obtained in the same series at baseline and early ultrasound examinations 15 . In our previous analysis, at both basal and early examination, after 2 weeks of treatment, 3D VI was higher in patients with complete pathological response than in those with partial response.…”

“…The observed poor reliability of color Doppler and 3D vascular indices in terms of improving the predictive value of grayscale examination of residual cervical lesion is apparently in contrast with the results obtained in the same series at baseline and early ultrasound examinations. In our previous analysis, at both basal and early examination, after 2 weeks of treatment, 3D VI was higher in patients with complete pathological response than in those with partial response.…”

“…On the basis of Simon's design, the required sample size was calculated to be 86 patients, as previously reported 15 .…”

“…On the basis of Simon's design, the required sample size was calculated to be 86 patients, as previously reported. Results are presented as percentage for nominal variables and as median (range) for continuous variables.…”